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Oxford Students Swim the Channel for 'Mind Your Head' Campaign

26 Aug 2013

In early September six Oxford students (including two law postgraduates) will attempt to swim the English Channel as a relay. Eli Ball, Anna Bennett, Tatiana Cutts, James Hillis, Eleanor Jaskowska, and Nat Ware are tackling the 32km (21 miles) between Dover and Calais to raise money for the OUSU charity and mental health awareness campaign, "Mind Your Head". The campaign, founded almost two years ago, works hard to raise awareness of and tackle the stigma surrounding mental health in Oxford. The team have been preparing for many months. Each will be required to swim for an hour at a time for as long as it takes to reach the French coast, in water no warmer than 16 degrees celsius. Cold - including the possibility of hypothermia - is a very real threat, but the team are feeling up-beat and confident. They've trained in water as cold as 12 degrees, and completed their two hour qualifying test swim at Bournemouth more than a month ago. No amount of training, however, can ever truly prepare for the challenge of swimming one of the busiest shipping ways in the world. Then, of course, there are the jellyfish...